THE Revenue ramped up the use of its computer systems to take in almost €60m extra from tax dodgers last year.

Part of the extra tax haul came from a 50pc rise in checks on PAYE workers who were identified as high-risk cases. Instead of randomly checking taxpayers to see if they are compliant, the Revenue now has even more systems in place to identify those who are most at risk of tax evasion.

There is now a system to detect potentially false tax refund claims and non-declaration of extra income by PAYE workers in "real time" rather than after the event.

There was a 50pc rise in the number of targeted checks on PAYE workers, which went up from around 29,000 in 2012 to 45,000 last year. And the number of "risk management interventions" rose from 125,000 in 2012 to 217,000 last year -- a 73pc increase.

In some cases, the Revenue simply sends a letter to the taxpayer telling them that a question has been raised about their tax affairs -- and in many cases the person involved pays up.

As a result, the Revenue took in around €552m last year (2013) from its tax compliance investigations. This was up by almost €60m on the €492m collected the previous year.

RISK

The use of computer-based risk systems allowed the Revenue to increase its number of checks by 16pc last year, even though its staff numbers remained roughly the same.

According to the Revenue's "headline figures" for 2013, the Revenue took in €318m in property tax payments last year. However, €76m related to people who were paying their property tax for this year in advance -- most likely by credit card.